First apples…

10 Sep First apples…

A really warm and sunny day here in the garden. The dying summer is definitely having its last gasp. This morning dew had misted leaves and flowers and everything was gently sparkling. Indeed the rainbow chard is so bright that it looks as if the stems could literally launch themselves into the sky but are content to make rainbows at our feet.

Really golden. The chard is glows in the sun.

Another harvest day and a landmark day as we picked the first of the apples. Benjy picked the ‘killer’ apple. A monster at least twice the size of any other apple on the same tree…

An ordinary sized apple alongside the beast.

We still have borage, although it’s fading now. Each time we pick it I’m grateful. I will miss the ritual of picking those bright blue stars each harvest day – which has been twice a week for many months now. The flowers are fiddly to harvest, but it’s a job I really enjoy. The deftness and repetition is like a meditation backed this morning by the calling of a single buzzard.

There was also a different birdsong that at first didn’t recognise, but then realised was a bullfinch. He was perched on the elder singing while we were harvesting berries with the magic ‘reacher.’ I have now almost perfected the art of elder berry catch and we only dropped two racemes.

There were some rarer nasturtium flowers in bloom and some variegated leaves like little coins which have a real peppery kick.

My favourite flavour of the moment is the heritage radish. It’s not round, but instead elongated and has slightly less of a hefty kick than other radish.

Ah well, off for a walk before it gets dark. The nights are really pulling in.